JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-The appeal presents a strange scenario where the accusation is that appellant No.2, a doctor doctored documents so that his son appellant No. 1 would get admission to a medical college and become a doctor. Allegations were to the effect that they manipulated mark sheets and on the basis of forged mark sheets he got admission which otherwise would not have been available to him. The mark sheets related to the two pre-degree examinations of the Kerala University conducted in 1978-79 and 1979-80, for two years i.e. Ist and IInd year respectively. They faced trial with two others. For the sake of convenience they are described as A-1 and A-2 and the other two who were acquitted as A-3 and A-4.

2. Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is essentially as follows:

A-1 is the son A-2, who was running a nursing home at Ernakulam during the relevant period and A-4 was an Assistant Registrar, Examination Wing, Kerala University. A-1 was a Pre-degree student during the academic years 1978-79 and 1979-80 in the Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, affiliated to the Kerala University. He appeared for the first year Pre-degree examination in April, 1979 and for